The organizer, 704 Outdoors, says the event is staged to control an animal population that heavily preys on the state’s deer population, according to a 2016 Carolina Sportsman article. The tournament is timed during the coyote mating season (February and March), when coyotes are more vocal and more likely to respond to calls, say organizers.

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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals told the Charlotte Observer it questions the tournament’s motives.

“Ironically, the stated aim of the Carolina Coyote Classic is to ‘protect’ the deer population — so that the coyote killers can have more deer to hunt,” said a statement issued by PETA Senior Director Stephanie Bell.

PETA believes the hunt backfires because coyotes from outlying areas will move into the competition-free feeding areas created by killing tournaments. State biologists backed that belief in a 2016 report.

John MacPherson is among the tournament organizers and he says coyotes will never been eradicated in the state, but they can be controlled. He also notes that, because the hunt is held during mating season, there are no coyote families to break up, as PETA suggests.

“I welcome activists that question our tournament and our goals. The topic draws attention and helps spread facts and information to the public about the coyote issue at hand,” MacPherson told the Charlotte Observer. “This is not the first time we have dealt with animal activists....We would like to thank PETA for drawing more attention to the event and lending a hand to spike participation.”

The species, which is known for an unnerving howl, was first documented in North Carolina’s Gaston County in 1938, and it has since spread across the state, according to state data.

The New Mexico state land commissioner signed an executive order banning animal killing contests on the state’s 9 million acres of trust land, specifically targeting contests that aim to “accumulate the most coyote carcasses.”

Multiple attacks on humans were reported in North Carolina in 2018, including two attacks in Davie County involving children. In March, a 9-year-old girl was attacked on her porch and in May, a father and daughter were attacked and bitten as the girl played on a backyard swing, the Charlotte Observer reported in May.

Yet another North Carolina incident was reported in April, when a man in the Town of Wake Forest was attacked by a coyote while taking out his trash, according to the News and Observer. That coyote later tested positive for rabies, the newspaper said.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission says the “increasingly bold behavior in coyotes” around humans is the result of the “resource-rich suburban environment, lack of harassment” and cases where some people had been intentional feeding coyotes.

Studies have shown small-scale coyote hunting efforts like the one in Stanly County are better at changing such bold behaviors, rather than reducing the population in a significant way, says the commission.

“Increased behavioral wariness demonstrated by the surviving coyotes....may restrict their activities to nocturnal hours, to avoid people,” says the report.

PETA told the Charlotte Observer it believes there is an alternative to the hunts.

“The only effective coyote-management plans are based on public outreach and personal responsibility,” said a statement issued by PETA’s Stephanie Bell.

“All residents (need to) work together to encourage coyotes to move on by properly disposing of trash, keeping companion animals and livestock safely confined, never leaving pet food outside, and trimming vegetation away from buildings.”